My grandmother sent me this "cutesy" email forward about how awesome dogs are and how aloof and uncaring cats are.

I sent her pictures of her great-grand-kitties.

I have an upset tummy and a slightly whiny back. Oh, for a bottle of ginger beer and a gentle backrub! I might have to use my Hitachi Magic Wand for its officially intended purpose.

More stress today; had to call to switch my Medicare Part D insurance plan to one where I wouldn't have to pay a premium. Enrolled over the phone. My hands were shaking the whole time. I almost dropped the phone.

Tomorrow I need to get ahold of Molly Maid so I don't have to worry about my place being a sty for the inspection on the 8th. Why the hell they are doing inspections now is anyone's guess. I just hope it's not the 3rd, because if it is I'll have to reschedule my MHMR appointment.

But I am valiumed up now and sleep will be soo.

In the mail (I only check my mail every couple of days, I checked it last night) I got 1) a notice of an inspection on the 8th and 2) paperwork to fill out because Social Security is reviewing my Disability.

It's too damn much. Why the hell are they doing inspections NOW? And I know they do periodic reviews of SSDI cases, but god, the TIMING!

Happy Thanksgiving, USAians. Happy Thursday, rest of the world.

Okay, important thing first. There's a bill to outlaw mail order sales of tobacco in the US. Cigars will be the only exemption. This effects me personally, of course, because I buy my shisha mailorder as much for variety as for price. I know it's only an online petition, but would some of you consider signing this? I'm sure many if not most of you are nonsmokers, but I see it as a personal freedom issue.


Went out with doombuggie last night. He convinced me to check out this new bar downtown. Too loud for my comfort level, but not as bad as most clubs, and it wasn't even remotely crowded so that wasn't so bad, and we didn't stay very long. After that he took me to HEB so I could make a much-needed grocery run. It wasn't pleasant; it was late enough that the restockers were out, clogging up the aisles, but close enough to Thanksgiving that it was still crowded, even at 11. I was so glad to get out of there! We dropped my stuff off and went to Epoch, because doombuggie had plans to meet up with a friend and Epoch's cool anyway. I mostly just zoned out while they talked. doombuggie was concerned about me looking like I was falling asleep in my seat! I was fine, though, just sort of inert. Conked pretty hard when I got home, though. It was a pretty good night.

Had a good experience with complex maintenance. The latch on my screen door has been sticking and last night I pretty much had to break out, so this morning I called maintenance (which is dispatched from a central office, you don't call the complex you're in). Guy showed up this afternoon; I'd met him briefly once or twice. Friendly, polite, competent. We chatted a little while he fixed the latch and he complimented my skull pajamas. No unneeded stress, and my screen door is fixed.

( Moping about Thanksgiving )

3 free MP3 dowloads from Amazon.com.

That's any three songs, not just from a limited list, but it's only for a few days.

You're awesome, waywardoctagon. You kick ass in so many ways, and getting into the Company series is only a recent way. It was so much fun being able to finally "Yes! Yes! Totally yes!" with someone over all the Lewis/Joseph-Aziraphale/Crowley parallels, and to snicker at( tiny tiny spoiler ).

I'm looking massively forward to squeeing with you over some of the later stuff. Oh god, Latif in "The Young Master"! Labienus in general in Children of the Company! Much other coolness that I can't even mention yet!

We must recruit more *casts thoughtful gaze at zarla*

One big-ass portion of noodles, meat, and Chinese broccoli at a Thai place = four meals for me. Dinner last night, breakfast today, and dinner today, with enough remaining for either breakfast or lunch tomorrow. goddessgoddess, thank T. again for me, would you? And what was the name of that place? It was yummy.

Thinking of plugging iDoser and drifting off with some aural opium. The annual Coast to Coast JFK special is on tonight, but the prefeed is some bullshit about intelligent design.

How could I forget about KGSR?

It's weird to listen to a local station streaming.

Lovely afternoon/evening with goddessgoddess, T., and S. (who turned out to be a cute longhaired fellow in a fetching paisley skirt). We went to Clay Pit for lunch (dodging all the burnt orange turnout on our way downtown); it turned out they have a lunch buffet on Saturdays as well as during the week. That turned out pretty well, they had saag paneer, lamb korma, and vegetable pakora. Stuffed!

After that goddessgoddess made her desire for warbat known, so we went to Sarah's. They're always fun to browse; T. got some rose syrup, goddessgoddess got eight warbat, and I caved and got a packet of honeydew shisha and a little vanilla sugar (which was really cheap!). The lady behind the counter was once more super friendly and chatty, joking about how I got goddessgoddess addicted to warbat and how I should eat more. If I hadn't been so massively stuffed I might have snagged a falafel or two, they're so good there!

Went back to T.'s for lazy-afternooning. There was checking of emails, Facebook, and the like, and it was learned that I cannot use a nipple mouse. There was sharing of warbat. There was cozy napping and the watching of TV, some current shows I didn't recognize, and the first three episodes of Coupling; I had forgotten how deeply I love that show. And how awesome Susan was in the beginning before she got all domesticated.

Eventually dinnertime rolled around. Dinner was chosen with remarkable ease, and we went to a Thai place. I had a Thai iced coffee, which I haven't had in years. S. had one too.Tasty, tasty drinks, those. My entree was a pork and noodle dish, peppery without being actually spicy, that I ate maybe a third of. Yay leftovers! There was also a dessert of some sort that I tried a bite of. Very sweet and sticky. After, Planet K was investigated, and another pipe shop, with discussion of further explorations, but I realized that I was dead on my feet and regretfully said my goodnights.

So now I am doing my night-time catching up, getting loved on by Molly, and discussing the awesomeness that is Discworld with waywardoctagon before collapsing into sleep. With a very full belly.

I just finished Unseen Academicals. I love Pepe so very hard.

I have lunch plans with goddessgoddess, T., and their friend S. This is probably a good thing, as my food intake the past few days has consisted of a can of not at all good soup. A meal I can chew would be nice.

Am wearing The Bra That Fits. At present there is only one. I have taken steps to remedy this. It is a front-hook. It kind of has to be. There are eight rows of hooks. Also wearing The Jeans That Fit, courtesy of hcolleen, and a not bad tshirt courtesy of some thrift shop somewhere. Smelly of the day as yet to be decided. I'm thinking Hungry Ghost Moon.

Thankfully I am not tempted by BPAL's Naughty or Nice Inquisition. There are a few scents that sound nice but most don't appeal.

It's rainy and I'm stiff and kind of queasy. more sleep is called for.

Thanks to doombuggie's indispensable and much appreciated aid yesterday, I was able to get the paperwork I needed. Bright and early this AM I took my quivering self to the office, where the manager made copies of everything to take to the caseworker (she said she was going in this afternoon) and put a "recieved" stamp on all of the originals.

Nothing I can do now until December 18th. My hands continue to shake.

The cats have been doing their job, though. Last night there was some contention between Anya and Molly as to who would curl up on my chest. Being Boss Cat, Molly won of course, and Anya snuggled up at my side.

FUCKING HACA>

Fucking bureaucracy. Fucking paperwork.

Sorry about the radio silence, guys. Stressed all to hell. Sleeping whenever I can. Have had to be awake today. Feel like 'm going to be sick. Big, stressy meeting tomorrow. This is not good.

Got a package from the ever-wonderful hcolleen. Several literal spoons (which I actually can use, and one of which is quite lovely) which made me smile and feel all warm and tickled inside. Also three pairs of pants, a pair of black jeans that probably won't fit for a while, an adorable pair of pinstripe pants that almost fit and probably will quite soon, and the pair I am wearing now.

The Old Navy size 18s I am wearing right now.

Size 18, motherfuckers. There's something to be said for this drugged-into-oblivion diet.

Also got the BPAL I ordered before the EMERGENCY MODE went into effect. Pink Snowballs is delicate and lovely, in the bottle at least it is vanilla-with-rose rather than rose-with-vanilla, which will make for a nice change if it stays true on my skin. And Mother Shub's Pfancy Pf-however-you-smell-it is one of those baked good foodies I like so much. Going by the descriptions I was pretty much playing it safe, but unless they turn nasty on my skin I am not disappointed.

And now I can sleep instead of just dozing!

doombuggie has started up a Facebook group petitioning for the soldiers injured and killed at Fort Hood to be awarded the Purple Heart. If it's your thing, check it out.

Yesterday I stirred out of bed to find out UPS had tried twice to deliver a package - yesterday would be the last attempt, yikes! hcolleen also said she'd sent me something and yep, there was a "tried to deliver" notice in my mailbox. So I set up redelivery on the post office site, and left the front door open (screen latched) to listen for UPS. I left the slip out signed when mid-afternoon doombuggie came by to take me to get my meds, and I thanked him by taking him to Frank. Sadly he was not impressed with his chili cheese dogs but I found the catfish bacon sausage to be yummy indeed. And I got a few cans of soup at Walgreens when I picked up my Effexor. UPS hadn't been yet when I got home, so I chilled/dozed on the futon for a bit until they showed with my clearance footie pajamas. Winters here are not long, but we get a few chilly nights and the insulation in most apartments sucks, so I really needed them. Plus, footie pajamas! With skulls!

Had a CnS in my inbox today, too. According to the PO, the BPAL Yules I ordered right before I found out the crunch was on should come today. So between that and my Mystery Box from hcolleen, it should be a good mail day!

Rewatching my way through Young Hercules, because I'm going to app Discord at hogwarts_hocus. Amazing how much HoYay they got away with on a supposed kids' show. I had forgotten just how blatant it was! Oh, I love my Dead Gay Shows.

I'll try to respond to some comments soon. I've been basically asleep since the concert.